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Eagles end strong, eye postseason

Making his first appearance in competition since mid-October, Lucas Almeida ripped a goal to help power Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s men’s soccer team to a regular season finale victory Friday.

The Eagles shredded Rogers State, 4-0, to cap the first phase of their campaign at 16-2 — including a 14-1 record since Sept. 7.

Next up, OKWU is set to play host to the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament, set to begin Nov. 15.

The Eagles swoop into the postseason, with a tailwind of momentum, coming off back-to-back 4-0 victories (against Central Christian and Rogers State).

In Friday’s fracas, Yusuf Bello came off the bench to blast the ball into the net — for his first season goal — to open OKWU’s scoring.

Jack McGowan assisted Bello on the goal — scored less than four minutes before halftime.

Ben Williams, Brandon Disney and Almeida each scored one goal in the second half.

Andres Gacharna and Darko Nikolic assisted on Almeida’s score — his sixth goal of the season.

Luka Stojanovic — who was named the MCAC Defensive Player of the Week for the previous week — labored as OKWU goalie for the first 71 minutes. Ryan McEntee finished up to nail down the shutout — OKWU’s fourth-straight shutout win and 10th of the campaign.

No doubt the Eagle are hoping to improve on their No. 5 national ranking in last week’s NAIA Coaches Top 25 Poll.

OKWU head coach Jamie Peterson has guided the Eagles to a cumulative 34-2-1 regular season record in 2012 and 2013.

This year’s Eagles sit in the top in the nation in several statistical categories.

These included shots on goal average (10.59, 3rd), total shutouts (10, 3rd), shots per game (20.88, 4th) and shutouts per game (0.555).

Stojanovic is No. 2 in the nation in fewest goals against average (0.47), while McGowan is No. 6 in shots on goal average (2.71).

McGowan is tops in the conference in goals average (0.71), in shots average (4.65) and in shots on goal average (2.71).

Teammate Lucas Cordeiro also is ranked in the top five in the conference in points average (1.53), goals average (0.6), assists average (0.33), shots average (3.2) and shots on goal average (1.47).

But, the clutch-shooting Cordeiro is tops in winning goals average (0.27) in the conference.

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